


Way past thirty-five

by IcarusGotYeetedFromTheSky



Category: Community (TV)
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Daddy Issues, First Kiss, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Mental Health Issues, idk how to tag that differently, mentions of thoughts of suicide, no beta we die like dumbasses
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-01
Updated: 2021-02-01
Packaged: 2021-03-12 15:53:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,272
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29138115
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IcarusGotYeetedFromTheSky/pseuds/IcarusGotYeetedFromTheSky
Summary: Craig checks up on Jeff after he doesn't respond on the fourth day of being "sick". He finds a wreck of a human.
Relationships: Dean Craig Pelton/Jeff Winger
Kudos: 25





	Way past thirty-five

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this in a book, like over the original text, at like 12.30 in the night. Vibes. I mean, someone had to write more fanfic for this ship!?

Jeff had called in sick a few days ago. Naturally, the Dean had ~~stalked~~ , ~~snooped through~~ , checked Jeff’s e-mails to see if maybe he could bump into him at the mall during his lunch break. But as expected: He hadn’t used his Greendale account for anything but unimportant things such as online shopping. Craig sighed, Jeff had said that once that he felt bad when he falsely called in sick, so maybe he was actually sick.

The next day, Jeffrey called in sick again, he didn’t sound too great, so Craig didn’t doubt it this time and wished Jeffrey to get well soon. He didn’t need to get a substitute for Jeff’s class, right? Planet Earth could play itself for a few days.

Jeff didn’t call in sick the next day, but the Dean didn’t see him at Greendale either, so he just assumed Jeff was still sick and sent him yet another “get well soon” text, and a fun picture of a dalmatian, because why not.

The fourth day both Craig and Frankie got a bit worried as Jeff hadn’t be heard from in a day and a half. So they had to check if he was still alive, you know? They called him twice each, but he didn’t pick up. It was 2 pm, he couldn’t have been asleep. Unless he was really sick. Poor Jeffrey. Craig decided to text him.

[2:18] Craig: Hey Jeffrey! Are you okay? We haven’t heard from you in a while. Should I come over? Do you need help?

[2:19] Jeffrey: No

[2:19] Craig: To what question?

No answer

[2:25] Craig: Hello? Jeffrey?

No answer came after that either. Weird, Jeffrey seemed to LOVE texting, it was the thing you could see him do, like, a thousand times a day. Maybe Craig SHOULD go check on him after work. Make him some soup maybe?

The dean checked his phone one last time before starting his drive home. Jeffrey still hadn’t texted about either being okay or needing help. Looks like he was gonna drop by his neighbours place, then.

He knocks on his almost roomie’s door. “Jeffrey! You didn’t say what question your answer was to!” Silence. “Are you there?”

There is a faint sound of movement inside the condo, but the door stays closed and there is no answer.

“Jeff? Hello? Do you need some help? Some soup?” Once again silence greets him.

Craig turns to his apartment and fishes his keys out of his pockets. When he twists the key and the lock makes its typical “unlocked” sound, he hears Jeffrey’s faint voice brokenly say: “The key’s on the door frame.”

Craig locks his door and turns to Jeff’s, slipping his keys into his pockets. He has to jump a couple of times to get the key off off the frame, but he got it.

“Alright, I’m coming in!” He opens the door. “Jeff? Where are you?” he calls out.

“here” Jeff says, his voice sounding so small, barely a word, more like a sound or a mumble. That didn’t sound well, Craig really starts to worry now, what if Jeff has a terrible illness? The sound came from the kitchen, though, so Craig makes his way there. He doesn’t see Jeff standing there, no, because Jeff is a little heap of human on the kitchen floor. Craigs heart drops, he looks really bad. His face is pink and raw from crying, his eyes puffy and tired. Craig had never seen Jeff this vulnerable, he hadn’t even seen him cry more than a few tears over the years. Sure, Jeffrey sometimes wore concealer, but he just assumed that Jeff hadn’t slept well or something, not that he had been crying like this. He looks like he had been crying for days, probably had been. Craig should have noticed earlier. He crouches down next to Jeffrey.

“Are you okay?”

“no” Jeff sniffed.

Craig then notices the empty bottle of scotch next to Jeffrey on the floor, so much for functioning alcoholic.

“What was the last time you drank anything without alcohol in it, Jeffrey?” he asks cautiously.

“idontknow, yesterday?” Jeff sounds distant.

Craig's worry increases. He gets up and starts looking through the cabinets, once he finds a glass, he fills it with water and sits down next to Jeff. “Drink.” Jeff attempts to grab the glass, but it slips slightly out of his grip when Craig lets go. That’s a tiny bit alarming. So Craig supports the glass for him as he drinks. Jeff drinks it in little bits, but he finishes it.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

Jeff looks him in the eye, sadness all over his face. He looks exhausted. Sadness seems to make up most of the air in the room.

“I wasn’t supposed to still be alive.”

Craig is shocked, his eyes widen and he brings a hand over his mouth, removing it again to ask a question, he wasn’t sure how to ask and if he even could.

“Jeffrey, did you…. Try to…” He tries to finish the rest of the sentence with facial expressions, that hopefully made it clear what he was trying to ask.

Jeff shakes his head. “I’m not strong enough for that.”

“Jeffrey” Craig says, shocked and sad.

“I should have died before thirty-five.”

“What?”

“Can’t become old. Can’t become like my father.”

“Ah” Craig understands that. “You won’t, though. I mean, become like your father, of course you’ll become ‘old’, everyone does. But every day you stray farther from being like your father, Jeffrey. You are already such a different person from who you were when you first set foot in Greendale. You have become a better person over the years that I’ve known you. If you ask me, you might have been most like your father BEFORE you were thirty-five.”

Jeff looks at Craig with anger, hurt and confusion in his eyes.

“Soo, if you had died then, you would have ended your worst nightmare, the version most like your father. But you lived. Alive, you got the chance to change, you got to become a man who is **nothing** like his father.” Craig holds Jeff’s face between his hands and looks him deep in the eye. “Because you care, Jeffrey.”

Jeff smiles weakly and sniffs, tears in his eyes again. He looks at Craig, his eyes linger on Craig’s lips and he leans in. They kiss. THEY KISS. Jeff’s lips aren’t soft like Craig had always imagined them to be, many, many times. Jeff’s lips tasted like old Scotch and faint vomit.

Craig pulled back from the soft kiss. Jeff chases after his lips, but Craig pushes him away gently. “Alright, you are obviously still drunk and in a terrible state. Let’s get you to your bed, okay?”

“Don’t tell Frankie.” Jeff groans as Craig helps him up.

“We’ll see about that tomorrow. I’ll stay over tonight, just to make sure you don’t get worse and actually rest.”

“Sleep in my bed?” He asks or offers.

“Nuh-uh, I’m staying on the couch.”

“Just hold me, please.”

“Fine. But you’re drunk, so that’s **it**.”

He sits Jeff on the bed and pulls back the covers.

“Lie down, Jeffrey.”

“You toooo.”

Craig takes off his shoes first, he’s not a caveman, and then joins Jeff. He pulls the blanket over them and Jeffrey puts an arm over him. How did he end up in Jeff Winger’s bed like THIS? He couldn’t believe it, but the joy was a mostly overshadowed with sadness and worry. He fell asleep, not knowing whether Jeffrey would even remember that they kissed.

**Author's Note:**

> Did I project? Maybe. This was my first work, in my third language. So, please leave criticism or correct any mistakes you find! /g But I find that people with English as their first language still make a lot of mistakes.  
> update was for fixing mistakes


End file.
